


Its Not Yet Day

by Etherway



Series: After The War [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra Gets a Hug, Dancing, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25379950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etherway/pseuds/Etherway
Summary: Catra stepped forward and spun, so her back was against Adora’s chest. “I don’t know about you…” Her grin widened as she stepped forwards, grabbed Adora’s waist, spun and tipped her over, holding her steady on the way down. “But I am having a blast.”Adora cocked her eyebrow, smiling at the memory, “Really.” She said, kicking off the ground and stepping a foot between Catra’s so it brought them face to face, with the tips of their noses touching, her grin widening as Catra’s eyes opened in surprise at the manoeuvre. She kissed Catra square on the lips. “That’s good,” She mumbled against her mouth, “So am I.”(The dorks make good on the dance they ruined)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: After The War [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781746
Comments: 2
Kudos: 106





	Its Not Yet Day

**Author's Note:**

> ta da! The cannon is back! Melog as it turn's out is a huge amount of fun to play with!  
> So... question for you all, do you prefer this bunch appearing as a one shot series like it currently is, or do I merge them all so far (There is a future and Counting Stars) including this one into one multi-chapter story like Drowning?  
> Talking of which The detailed plan for the next chapter of drowning is done so work will commence in Ernest!
> 
> Thanks for coming and I'll see you soon!

Catra decided she really liked trees.

It came as a bit of a surprise to her, the realisation. But as she sat amongst the higher branches, with Melog curled up beside her as she watched the hustle and bustle below. She found there was something more comfortable about the way the branch gently swayed in the breeze over the stoic stillness of anything scaleable in the fright zone. The bark was rough and ragged and warm, unlike smooth, cold metal. But best of all: the leaves and twigs hid her from view.

Before she had only thought trees were good for swinging off, hunting something or someone and for burning down, oh, how she had _loved_ burning them down. But… not anymore.

Trees didn’t talk, they didn’t constantly check on you, but they still conversed in their own way. Catra had often found herself just closing her eyes and listening to the wind rustling the leaves. They were strangely good company, though that was probably weird. She would certainly _not_ let Perfuma know about her new found appreciation for the princesses’ woody friends, otherwise she would be bombarded with how she was allowing her _“positive energy to shine through”_ and all the other crap so she would keep her discovery to herself.

Melog made a noise between a purr and a grunt as he? She? Rolled in their sleep, Catra had to hold her arm out to stop them rolling off the branch. But Adora was right, it really wasn’t clear exactly _which_ gender Melog was, that’s assuming they had one in the first place. But they were technically an alien, so it didn’t have to mean that the… _Krytisians?_ Hell, _how_ do they even go about classifying what creatures from other planets are called? and did that even mean they had to follow the same rules life seemed to create for itself here on Etheria?

Catra dropped her face into her palms. She was beginning to sound a bit too much like Entrapta for her own good.

Her eyes peaked open as she heard voices underneath her- another cart, this one seemed to be hauling food towards the valley just outside Brightmoon, where row upon rows of tents and other emergency shelters had hurriedly been erected to house all the refugees that had begun to pour back into the city.

She felt like she could relax up here. Up here, she could watch the world without it watching back. Catra had spent a large part of the day hiding away, listening to Melog’s content snores and just… watching.

The Castle, and everything around it was… busy, to say the least. There were hundreds of people _at least_. They were all running about, from hauling food and medical supplies, to clearing rubble, to just hanging around in whatever space they could find, talking to one another or trying to find lost loved ones among the crowds that got bigger with every passing minute.

When they had got there that morning, there had only been a few stragglers, mostly scouts of other villages to actually confirm that the horde was gone. Catra couldn’t blame them, they had lived with one type of horde or another for such a long time that even _she_ was still struggling with the concept.

It didn’t take long for the word to spread, between those scouts rushing home and Glimmer doing her usual Sparkly stuff they had started gathering people at an alarming rate as people hoped to reclaim their homes after the city was evacuated.

Catra’s eyes glanced over the large spire, the horde had landed one directly into the city itself, it was nearly the sole reason as to why it had to be evacuated in the first place. Everyone seemed to avoid it like a plague. As far as she knew, no one apart from the princesses and bow had even stepped into the district where it had landed.

It was funny how in a city where there where tall towers pretty much _everywhere_ , (She got a feeling that if she stayed here she would soon develop a serious hatred of stairs) that just one more tower could look so… out of place, it was green and sharp and it just wasn’t… right. But it wasn’t like they could do anything about it, how would they even move the thing without crushing half the city? That was a problem for future Brightmoon, and hopefully never Catra’s.

She looked down again when she heard more voices, they looked young- maybe in their mid-teenage years? They slumped against the trunk of her tree whilst rubbing their foreheads and complaining about the heat, unaware of Catra above them.

The sun was high in the sky now and was being fairly unforgiving considering the sheer amount of work that needed to be done. But it didn’t seem to faze anyone as the Carts kept rolling and the people kept pouring in. It was a wonder how any sense of organisation was being kept, but then again… these were the princesses. If Catra had learnt anything after joining the rebellion- it was that they tended to do the improbable for breakfast. It was chaotic, confusing, and stressful working with them, but never boring. She would give them that.

Glimmer in the beginning had been teleporting all over the place, desperately trying to keep everything orderly, but ultimately failing and massively stressing out. It took both Bow and Scorpia to finally talk her out of it. She ended up appointing Scorpia and Perfuma to handle directing the refugees. Which knowing Scorpia would either be an absolute disaster or a stunning success. Thankfully, it was the latter and they and taken to it with storm. Easily directing all the newcomers and even helping them carry their belongings whenever they could.

Bow was with Glimmer, being teleported wherever she went, acting as an extra pair of ears and an extra brain to remember all the reports being sent their way. Mermista, Seahawk and Frosta where desperately trying to handle the cargo logistics of making sure there was enough food and supplies for everyone. Spinerella and Netossa were handling a bunch of the miscellaneous stuff, walking around the valley, and checking up on everyone, making sure they had what they needed or making sure they got it if they didn’t. No one knew where Entrapta had gone, but they were fairly certain she was nearby.

Then there was Adora… she had stayed with Catra through most of the morning and the pair of them had ventured into the whispering woods to make sure no one had tried to take a shortcut through and had gotten lost.

They had both been silent for a while, each processing the memories they shared in this place. It was here where it had all gone wrong, where it had all started. But even though the mood had gotten tense they didn’t take a step away from each other.

Catra felt the undergrowth encroach on her, the shadows seemed to track them and there wasn’t a single bird call to break the silence. It was feeling a little claustrophobic, but they pressed on, always listening out for any movement. Adora had tried to say something, but it seemed the words died in her throat. Catra wanted to know what she had to say, but didn’t dare to open her mouth, she didn’t trust her voice to work.

So they pressed on in silence, helping each other over fallen logs and crossing the few creaks that were to be found in the woods. Always checking behind their backs for any of the wildlife. They once came to an abrupt stop as the ground started shaking, causing the leaves to rustle above them loudly and the trunks groaned as they swayed. Adora had looked around panicked, her palm flexing, ready to magic up her sword just in case. Catra had grabbed her arm and led her to the base of a tree. Catra had jumped to a higher up branch and had leant down to help Adora pull herself up. They quickly ascended higher and sat close to the branch as possible so it wouldn’t break beneath them.

They looked down to see what looked like a giant insect march beneath them, it had several glowing blue eyes, a silver shell and its legs looked too sharp to just serve as legs. Catra was glad they decided to climb, any lower and thing would have been at eye level.

As they hugged the trunk as the bug passed underneath them Adora explained that she had faced one before, but it seemed to calm down under the presence of She’ra. She didn’t move though and stayed sitting on the branch with an arm hooked around Catra’s. Neither of them felt like it was worth risking a fight right now. When it had passed, they quietly dropped to the ground and carried on their scouting.

They soon stumbled across a dip in the ground, nature had reclaimed it, but Catra knew the marks well. A skiff had crashed here, obviously a long time ago. It was strange seeing such a vague reminder of the horde completely grown over, Etheria had already begun to heal in its own way. Catra had blinked at her surroundings, there was something familiar about this place…

“hmm…” Adora hummed as she ran her hands across the bark of a tree.

“What is it?” Catra asked.

“Nothing… it’s just this place feels… I don’t know, familiar?”

Catra felt her eyebrows raise, Adora too?

She scrambled up the other side of the ditch and turned round a tree to get a better look when she felt herself gasp and stop dead in her tracks.

“Catra?” Adora called, jogging to stand beside her and turned to see what she was looking at, her eyes widened. They were looking at a small clearing, the sun raining down a small ray of light in the centre where a cluster of root knots formed what could be easily mistaken as a tree stump. They however, knew otherwise.

This _was_ where it all began. The scar in the earth had been from _their_ skiff, all those years ago, and _this_ … this was where the sword was… Everything that had happened to them, every time they fought and screamed and bloodied each other raw. It was all because of this.

Cara didn’t know how long they just stood and _stared_. There were too many thoughts swirling around their heads to say anything. How much of their lives had revolved around this place? After a while Catra wasn’t sure if she _was_ thinking, more just staring blankly at it, like a mirror to the past. Looking back at it, Catra felt like she was jus-

“I’m sorry.” Adora said quietly. Really, in the end… it was all that needed to be said.

“Yeah… I’m sorry too.” Catra replied. Because here, at the end they both had things to be sorry about, but they were here now, so they could be sorry as much as they wanted.

Catra felt Adora hesitantly lace their fingers together, and Catra rotated her palm so their hands locked together. They stood there, staring at the mound that tore them apart. Only this time, Catra hoped, they wouldn’t make the mistake again.

“I know I’ve already said it,” Adora began, “But I still regret finding it most days.”

“But then the horde would have most likely won, we would’ve been wiped by prime…” Catra said, scratching at the back of her neck as it tingled at the mention, “He would’ve got his hands on the heart and _who_ knows what would’ve happened to the rest of the universe.” Catra turned to look at Adora, “It was worth it… in the end.”

Adora nodded slowly. “It so nearly wasn’t…” Catra felt her chest warm up.

“If we should learn anything from all this, is not dwell on the what ifs. We’re here, we won. To me… nothing else matters,” Catra said squeezing Adora’s hand tighter and she returned the gesture.

They stared on in silence for a few more seconds before Adora turned to face her, looking… slightly nervous?

“I… I wanted to ask you… I just wanted to make sure… But…” She looked down and sighed, like she couldn’t look Catra in the eye, her eyes locked on their hands between them and ran a shy thumb over Catra’s knuckles who slightly shivered at the touch. “What… are we?”

Catra nearly wanted to laugh, “after all we’ve done and said, you’re worried about _this!?_ ” Adora flinched slightly and looked incredibly nervous. Catra immediately felt bad.

“I’m sorry, it’s just I assumed we were… you know… But I assumed before, and we know how _that_ went… I don’t… _can’t_ assume here Catra. I _need_ to know.”

she remembered what she had said the previous night: _“_ and that’s… that’s worth _everything_ to me.” Catra found It strange, for so long Catra had been looking for the perfect way to hurt Adora. But only now did she have it but wouldn’t even _think_ of using it. But then again… maybe she _had_ been using it all this time… It all needed to change. Catra smiled as her eyes flickered up to Adora’s face. “we’re whatever you want us to be.”

Adora nodded and beamed at her. “well then, Catra… would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?” Catra’s smile widened and she stood closer, so there was barely any space between them.

“I won’t have it any other way.” She said. Adora’s eyes sparkled and she disconnected their hands before wrapping her arms around Catra’s waist and tugged her closer, so they were flush against each other and Catra linked her hands around Adora’s neck. Adora lent down and twisted her head slightly as their lips connected. Catra released a sigh into the kiss, they were _here_ and nothing else mattered.

In the back of her mind, Catra found that it was slightly poetic that it was here, where they tore everything apart, was there where they started to put it all back together…

They both pulled away with slightly dazed expressions, Catra’s eyes scanned over Adora’s face, burning every detail into her mind, and from the way Adora’s eyes flickered from left to right, she was probably doing the same.

Catra felt Adora’s chest expand and retract rapidly before a quiet chuckle escaped her mouth. Catra felt herself smile, they must look so strange, staring at a knotted root like it was the beginning and end of everything. She felt herself chuckle as well and soon they were laughing, holding tightly on each other to prop them up. Just… laughing, it made the growing claustrophobic sensation cower away…

She wasn’t sure who started crying first.

They stood with their arms wrapped around each other and pulling as tightly as they could, fists wrapped up in clothes and faces buried in each other’s necks as they sobbed. Only really just coming to terms what they had done, and what they had in front of them. Against everything the universe had sent their way, here they were. For the first time Catra felt safe enough just to… let it all out. There was no one watching, no one keeping tabs on what she was doing, it was just her and Adora.

She shook under Adora’s embrace, trying to let every regret, every misdeed, everything she had to be happy about, just… everything, out all at once. She would ever had tried this on her own, but it needed to be done, and Adora was here, she wouldn’t leave, and neither would Catra.

When they calmed down, they loosened their embrace but didn’t exit it and pulled away slightly. Adora’s eyes where bloodshot, and a few moisture streaks gracing her cheeks, making the dark bruises stand out on her face.

She was Beautiful.

They pulled away from their hug, their hands seeking the other’s mindlessly. They turned and walked back the way they came.

They didn’t look back.

The return through the woods was much… lighter. They retraced their steps, but this time hand in hand. Leaping over the collapsed trees and laughing when they slipped and fell into a chaotic pile of limbs. Catra herself felt much… clearer, like most of the weight had been taken off her shoulders. There was still a beyond comprehensible amount of work to do and her actions to repay for, she wasn’t ignorant of those. But she felt more comfortable in herself. It could take years, or her whole life, but it didn’t matter. If she could do good things with her life now, then she wouldn’t waste it.

They jumped when they caught the glimpse of movement, racing through the edge of the undergrowth. Circling them. Before they had any chance to react it burst from the treeline and pounced on Catra, pinning her to the ground. Adora’s sword flashed into existence but she hesitated as the dark red fur was familiar.

Melog blinked pointedly at Catra, looking _far_ from impressed.

 _“Hunters in forest_.” It mewled at her, “ _not safe.”_

“I know.” Catra replied, “trust me, we’ve had run in’s here before.” She said, her eyes flicking over to Adora, who’s sword had dropped so its tip was on the ground.

“ _Then why loud?”_ it hopped off her stomach _“loud- hunters.”_

“Yeah… you’re right, we where on our way out.” Catra said. Looking at Adora who had cocked her head to the side at her. “They’re warning about the creatures here, they may have heard us? I’m not sure if it’s a definite or a warning.” But either way, Catra couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Well I think we’re nearly at the edge, let’s pick up the pace just in case.”

They carried on, with Melog running ahead before stopping and turning to make sure they where following. They where able to find clearer paths around the undergrowth rather than trying to go over it, allowing them to cover much more ground. Melog had said that they hadn’t noticed anyone when they were searching for them.

 _“difficult, you’re loud, hard to hear other sounds.”_ It then turned and carried on as Catra came to a halt.

“What is it?” Adora asked.

“I think we’ve just been sassed by a shapeshifting magical cat.” Catra said, staring at Melog’s retreating form.

“We’ll from what we’ve done over the past few days I can’t say that Melog’s capability of sarcasm is enough to shock me.” Adora said.

“Meh, I suppose you’re right.”

“About most things!” Adora replied. Catra elbowed her in the side. “Hey!”

“Watch your luck.”

“ _LOUD!”_ Melog whined from behind a tree in front of them.

“Are they having a go at us?” Adora asked.

“What do you think?” Catra muttered and set off again.

Soon the trees parted and they where staring across the valley in front of the city walls. The camp had at least tripled in size since they left, and they could see the small dots of people milling about. Though they had left the whispering woods far to the South than where they entered and Brightmoon was still a long way away.

There was a flash to their right and they turned to see Melog had grown bigger, now a crimson horse with a glowing blue mane.

“Well that works.” Adora laughed, walking towards them.

“How do you even ride these things?” Catra asked, “Cat form was alright, they couldn’t accidently throw me off.”

“It’s quite simple really.” Adora reassured. Crouching at Melog’s side, and connecting her hands together near the ground, “come on, get on.” Catra allowed herself to be boosted onto Melog’s back who huffed at her when she gripped their mane too tightly.

“Sorry…” She apologised and reached down to help pull Adora up behind her. Adora settled in an wrapped her arms around Catra’s waist and gently held onto Melog’s fur. “Now what?” Catra asked. Adora simply smiled at her.

“hold on.”

Melog set off slowly, to allow Catra get a feel of the balance, then sped up to a trot, and then a gallop. After the initial unease settled, Catra felt herself relax slightly. The _tha-dunk, tha-dunk_ of Melog’s hooves was rhythmic and calming, and the wind blew threw her hair gently as they rode. She felt herself lean back into Adora’s embrace and smiled. She could definitely get used to this.

People scattered out the way along the main “road” which had formed down the centre of the camp as Melog ran in, scattering dust behind them. They slowed to a slow trot to not accidently run over anyone and headed for the large administration tent, which held all the supplies to be distributed out. They came to a stop outside the entrance as Glimmer flashed into existence in front of them, holding a startled looking Bow.

“Where have you been!? It’s been _hours!_ And why is Melog a horse?”

“We got a little lost.” Adora replied as they swung their legs over Melog’s back and jumped to the ground. Another flash, and Melog shook, back as a cat again.

 _“Little lost.”_ It mewled but Catra ignored them.

“that is _seriously_ cool.” Bow said, staring at Melog. Glimmer sighed.

“Did you find anyone?”

“Nope, it seems everyone has stayed clear.” Adora replied.

“Good. At least we don’t have that to worry about… OK. What’s next?” She asked Bow who was staring at an incredibly long list.

“Ummm… Section four seems to be running out of medical supplies, they have a large amount of injured as well.”

“Right… could you two do that? Just bring this cart to that red flag over there.” Glimmer asked them, pointing to a tall red banner on the other side of the camp.

“Yep, no problem.” Adora said walking over to the large Cart and picking up it’s handles effortlessly.

“Brilliant! We’ve got to check up on Mermista and Seahawk. We’ll see you later… probably.” They vanished in a pink flash.

They walked the cart overt to the medical tent and helped the volunteers unload the cart. They also headed in to help the healers where they could. Apparently, an evacuating village was attacked by the horde’s robots, and they didn’t have any experienced fighters. It was Horrific inside, there was blood stained on the ground and people rushing about with bandages and medicines of all kinds.

Their horde training had payed off, and they were quickly welcomed by the staff as they were incredibly efficient at bandaging wounds and stopping bleeding. They weren’t really thinking much, just running through the motions, Adora held the patient down and kept talking to them whilst keeping pressure on other wounds as Catra got to work sterilising and bandaging all the cuts and burns. The staff around them had told them they had saved over six people’s lives.

Adora had smiled, Catra had frowned. Because how many more had she taken? She didn’t realise she had phased out until Adora was gently pulling her out by the shoulders out of the tent. “It’s a start.” She told her. “Remember that.” Catra had nodded. She wouldn’t take any more, that’s the important bit now.

Catra snapped back to the present when Melog twitched and lifted they’re head off the branch and stared off into the distance.

_“Yellow hair”_

Catra shook her head and smiled. “Yellow hair” had become Melog’s name for Adora, no matter how much Adora had tried telling Melog otherwise. It had served as an endless source of amusement for Catra. A minute later Adora was swinging herself up to their branch. Adora was the only one who could find her when she had chosen to disappear.

“Find the best vantage point and go up.” Adora had told her when she had asked how she could always find her. Catra found it slightly disturbing if she was that predictable.

“Hey.” Adora said, settling down next to Catra a pecking her on the cheek. “Sorry I’m late, I was helping some people move some extra carts.” Catra had seen her from here. She had done the whole _greyskull_ thing or whatever and had carried a cart in each hand above her head. Catra huffed in amusement.

“What?” Adora asked.

“That was _obvious_ fan-service.” Catra said, grinning at her.

“Oh, so you _were_ watching!” Adora retorted, “Guess I’ll have to do it more often.”

Catra laughed and shook her head. “Whilst I’ll admit, She’ra is certainly… impressive to look at.” Adora’s eyebrows raised suspiciously, and Catra elbowed her again. “I still prefer _my_ Adora… poof and all.” She said gently tugging on Adora’s fringe.

“You… probably will never know how glad I am to here that.” Adora said quietly. Catra was about to make another sarcastic comment to ruin it but she stopped herself, she had meant it, every word. So, she just shrugged.

“I fell in love with Adora. Not the Eight-foot-tall warrior goddess she has a habit of turning into.”

Adora grinned at her. “Goddess?” Catra scowled.

“Do _not_ ruin it when I’m trying to be nice.” She warned.

“You’re right, you’re right, I’m sorry.” Adora surrendered, “And I fell in love with Catra, _and_ the A class Villain she has a habit of turning into.”

“Do you really have t-!

She got cut off As Adora turned her head and kissed her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. Melog huffed at them and curled in on themselves, trying to go back to sleep.

“I love all of you.” Adora said, “Deal with it.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes, watching the carts moving about in the distance. It reminded Catra of an ant hive, a few structures, with hundreds of black dots moving about in even lines, transporting goods and people with mind boggling efficiency, it really was fascinating to watch.

“They’re throwing a party.” Adora explained. “Because apparently, not blowing up the planet and saving the universe is worthy of celebration.”

“Geez I wonder why?” Adora laughed at that and her hand curled its way to lock with Catra’s.

“I want to take you.” Adora said, “I want to make it right.” Catra turned her head and arched her eyebrow.

“Are you asking me on a date?” She asked, a small smile fighting its way onto her face.

“It depends, do you want it to be?” Adora challenged with a smirk. Catra swung her leg over the branch so she was facing Adora head on and shrugged.

“Meh, I’ll consider it.”

.o0o.

The fires burnt nearly as bright as the setting sun, there where several of them, built outside the huge camp to accommodate everyone. Several of the Carts had been brought out, supplying the fires with wood, and the makeshift tables with food and drink. For the first time in her life, Catra had heard the wind carrying nothing but content chatting and joyful laughter. It was slightly contagious, and she had a smile on her face for most of the evening.

She had spent the entire time at Adora’s side, well… to be honest, she didn’t have a choice as Adora had grabbed her hand as they entered the valley and hadn’t let go since. Adora had stuffed her face with just about every food on display. When Catra had looked at her amused with raised eyebrows, all she did was shrug, blush and mumble “I’m hungry…” with her mouth full.

Now they where just sitting, watching the fire burn high up into the sky, relishing the constant warmth radiating off it. They were sitting back to back, leaning each other up, eating these things called “cupcakes”, Catra was well experienced with food outside the fright zone, if you knew where to look it was possible to get your hands on pretty much anything. But she hadn’t had these before, she knew what a cup was and also a cake, so she had expected it to be a cake _in_ a cup, not these weird paper things. Nevertheless, it was _delicious,_ and she may or may not have gone back to get seconds even if it would encourage her girlfriends bad eating habits.

“…and then it just… _exploded!_ ” Adora explained, Catra could feel through the shifting in Adora's back that she was moving her arms about to animate her story, even if Catra couldn’t see it. “I panicked big time and just pelted it out the room, I had literally _no_ idea what to do, so I rushed down the hallway and I was like _“Glimmer! Glimmer! I think I killed the bed!”_ and _then..._ of _all_ people... I had to run into the literal _queen_ of Brightmoon!”

Catra laughed slightly, “And how did that go?”

“About as well as you would expect to be honest.” 

Adora leant further back into her, curling her fingers around Catra’s either side of them. They fell into silence, their breaths synchronising as they watched the joyful chaos unfold around them. All around them Catra saw people, laughing, cheering, drinking an dancing. Well… it was the first time in a _long_ while where these people where no longer being threatened by anything, so they had good cause to celebrate.

Soon they air was filled with music and Adora had spent quiet a while teaching Catra about the various instruments. Normally she wouldn’t care but her hearing was far superior to anyone else’s, save maybe Melog. So, she was quite interested in the things that where making the music. She learnt what a flute was, as well as a lute, which was basically a guitar but completely different. She had raised her eyebrows at Adora for that explanation. There where hurdy gurdeys, which were like a violin but also shared a relation to a piano for some reason, she didn’t get that, they sounded nothing alike. There were also countless others, so many that Catra was having a hard time remembering them all.

They had joined in on the revelries, eating, drinking a little but not too much and Adora was swamped with fans. Catra felt her jaw clench and her fists ball. They all called her “She’ra” not _Adora_. Over the years Catra had also blended the two, although they shared striking similarities and in the end they _were_ one and the same, there were also some critical differences that Catra now understood, that She’ra and Adora were two very different things worthy of distinction from one another. But here they were, and everyone was calling her She’ra, even though she was still the bumbling, nervous disaster zone she always was. _That_ caused a smile to form on Catra’s face, she would deal with how people called her later, Adora was smiling and laughing, so Catra would leave off.

When the music slowed down a little Adora grabbed her wrist and tugged her into the open space by the main fire, ringed by a huge circle of people and filled with dancing couples inside.

“what are yo- oh…” Catra said as Adora smiled at her and grabbed her waist, spinning them into a slow dance. Catra was reminded of a few years ago when they had last done this. Catra was enjoying herself for a completely different reason, she knew exactly how to get under Adora’s skin, and was relishing the chance to use it all at once, laughing as she skittered around the ball.

Catra smiled and followed Adora’s lead, left, right, left, forwards three steps, twirl around, repeat. It was a simple dance, enough that after a few tries her feet went on auto pilot and no longer had to concentrate to keep step with Adora

“Do you remember the last time we did this?” Adora asked smiling at her. Catra nodded slowly, Adora’s smile widened, “You kidnapped my friends!” She laughed, _laughed_. Catra closed her eyes.

“I did…” She said quietly.

“To be honest, now that we’re together and all, I’ll admit after I got over the whole _my friends got kidnapped_ bit, I was actually quite impressed you managed to do it.” Catra allowed herself a dry laugh.

“With how much they were distracting each other, it really wasn’t that difficult.”. Adora shrugged.

“Meh, I was still impressed, take the credit.”

“Why are you talking so happily about this?” Catra asked, not quite sure how to react.

“Because we’re here,” She pointed to the side, “Bow and Glimmer are over there, we’re all fine, and I can be the first person probably in Etheria’s history to talk to my girlfriend, dancing next to a fire about how she kidnapped my friends, rubbed it in my face, and then proceeded to save the universe! I find it quite funny to be honest!” She said grinning.

“It isn’t as simple as that, you know it, and I didn’t save the universe, you did.”

“Maybe.” Adora said as they turned, “But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. You brought me back, that gives you equal to more credit in my book. I had given up… you hadn’t.” Catra gripped at Adora tightly, clenching her eyes shut.

“I couldn’t give up on you… not again.” Adora kissed her on the bridge of her nose.

“And I’ll love you forever for it.” She said quietly.

They danced on quietly, reading each other’s bodies to tell where they where going next, directing them out the way of other pairs. They kept it simple and slow. Left, right, left, forwards… Catra let her eyes wonder, she could see Bow and Glimmer dancing nearby, as well as Seahawk and Mermista, even Scorpia and Perfuma. Off to the edge away from everyone else she could see Entrapta and Hordac, they weren’t doing anything, just… watching. She was glad no one was bothering them.

The music started to pick up and their pace increased, Adora started getting more adventurous, throwing in spins and rollbacks into their rhythm. Their smiles widened as they locked eyes, Catra stepped forward and spun, so her back was against Adora’s chest. “I don’t know about you…” Her grin widened as she stepped forwards, grabbed Adora’s waist, spun and tipped her over, holding her steady on the way down. “But I am having a _blast.”_

Adora cocked her eyebrow, smiling at the memory, “Really.” She said, kicking off the ground and stepping a foot between Catra’s so it brought them face to face, with the tips of their noses touching, her grin widening as Catra’s eyes opened in surprise at the manoeuvre. She kissed Catra square on the lips. “That’s good,” She mumbled against her mouth, “So am I.”

They danced on into the night, stepping out the way of other couple’s and curling their way in front of the fire as it cracked and popped happily, bathing the surrounding Valley in a warm orange light. Catra let her Mind wander. Tomorrow, they had a huge amount of work to do, they had to start the repairs on Brightmoon, as well as all the other kingdoms, they had the _entire_ planet to rally and reorganise, and a planet to heal.

They may be at this, Catra realised, for quite some time. But as she looked around, the determination of the people was evident, pretty much the entire population of Brightmoon and more from surrounding villages had returned. But just _look_ at what they’ve done already, Catra was pretty confident they were all up to the task.

She and Adora danced on and off for the rest of the night. Talking to their friends or the locals, always hand in hand. Catra had a countdown in her head for the fast-approaching dawn. Until then, she could relax for once and just enjoy the time with her girlfriend, however short in the great grand scheme of things that may be.

With the dawn, came their responsibilities, and a near impossible task…

But it wasn’t day…

Not yet.

**Author's Note:**

> How was it? I loved the idea of making them find where the sword was, tugged my heartstrings a little! This one as always was a huge amount of fun to right, and my notes on more ideas for this series has only gotten bigger! Theses stories will eventually grow into the future depicted by "There is a future" and most likely beyond, but if you would like to see something happen, don't hesitate to tell me! Ill take entire story requests to just a little scene that I can squeeze in somewhere! Thank you all for reading and I'll see you soon!


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